Rise of the Talentless
by BuddingWriter101
Summary: Josie Heronglade, a Talentless elf, hated Sophie Foster the moment she arrived in the Lost Cities. She's also fed up with the ignorant and small-minded Council. So when she gets a mysterious note from an even more mysterious group, the Neverseen, she is almost eager to join. But she gets tangled in a web of plans and lies, and realizes she's getting more than she bargained for.
1. Author's Note

Heeeey ff people! BW here! I (finally) have a new story for you guys! The idea came to me all of a sudden, and I just couldn't resist starting it! Nothing like telling a story from the antagonists point of view to mix things up, but I guess in this case, Sophie would be the antagonist. All i ask is that you go a bit easy on Josie and listen to some of the things she is going to say, even though the story isn't written from Sophie's point of view. Oh, and also, don't judge my rhyming skills. Keefe and the Black Swan make rhyming messages look sooo easy. I don't know when the next chapter will be posted. If enough people like it, I'll make it more of a priority. For now it's just an experiment. Hope you like it! Please review with comments and suggestions!

\/ full summary, since I had to cut it to make it fit \/

Josie Heronglade, a Talentless elf, hated Sophie Foster the moment she arrived in the Lost Cities. She hated her human-ness, she hated her unnatural amount of powerful abilities, and she absolutely despised the Council for pardoning screw-up after screw-up. So when Josie gets a mysterious note from an even more mysterious group called the Neverseen, she is almost eager to seek them out. But when she gets tangled in a web of plans and lies, she might realize that her hate brought more than she had bargained for.


	2. The Seed of Hate

**-The Seed of Hate**

"JOSIE!"

I snapped my head up from the ripped cape I was fixing, one of many on the pile. I had been lost in thought. It was better, I had realized, to think of other things while I worked. Otherwise, I would just get irritated. Well, more than I already was.

"Do you know how many times I've called you?" The scrunched up look on my boss's face told me it had been a few. Eliza, an elf in her 800s, was a Talentless. That was the only thing we had in common. She was loud and outgoing, I was a wallflower. Her rich brown skin, black hair, and sky blue eyes were extremely different from my pale skin, scraggly red hair, and dull hazel eyes. Eliza ran a clothing repair shop, The Thread Fixer-upper, and it was (pathetically) something she took pride in. She was generally kind, but would turn on you in an instant if you got on her bad side.

"I'm really sorry, Miss," I said, and tried to put as much fake sincerity in my voice as I could.

Her features softened and she rolled her eyes. "No need to over do it. I just came in to tell you that your shift is done. But if you'd rather keep on working..."

I jumped up, tugged off my apron, and began putting on my coat. "I'm good. Thanks, Miss."

She looked at me with disapproval clear in her eyes. I didn't care, I was used to that look. "You need to stop living in your fantasy worlds, Josie, and wake up in the real world. No amount of imagining is going to change anything. What's done is done, and you can only move forward."

I sighed. I'd play alone. "I know, Miss. See you tomorrow."

"And I've told you a hundred times to stop calling me Miss!" she yelled as I walked out the door. "It makes me feel old!"

"You _are_ old," I grumbled to myself. She was right, with some of it at least. I was lost in my fantasies. I dreamed of what could have been. What didn't happen. What _should_ have. But I was going to ignore her advice; I had no intention of waking up. The only thing that would bring is fresh waves of disappointment and scorn, the very thing I tried to block out.

And I wasn't being paranoid. I could see the disgust in the eyes of the nobles I walked past. _A_ _dirty_ _Talentless_ , is probably what they're thinking. I had no cape. I wore the working clothes of a low-life. "This isn't the life I was meant to have!" I want to scream, but of course, they wouldn't care.

When it was clear I wasn't going to be manifesting, I was barred from attending my 6th year of Foxfire. I had it all planned before. I would be a powerful Empath, like my noble mother. I was good at reading people, that had to be what I was going to manifest. I would pass through the Silver Tower with flying colors, be matched and get married. See the approval and pride I had been waiting, yearning, to see from my parent's eyes.

But it was snatched away from me, the Council to blame. They try feeding us lies to appease us; we're all equal, we just have different jobs, we get the same amount of money and the same kind of housing. But we're not equal, we're not the same. The look in their eyes says it all. We're looked down upon, any marriage we have is deemed a "bad match," we couldn't dare be seen in the higher level, non-labor jobs. How is that equal, when we're treated like worthless extras in society?

My parents disowned me. They couldn't take the shame of having a Talentless child. I got a job working for Eliza. Well, it was more like she forcefully gave it to me. I had no intention, once I was on my own, of getting a job. A job for the _talentless_. I would have been perfectly content living off my birth fund, but Eliza took it upon herself to look after me. I didn't ask for it, and I didn't need her, but I suppose it's better than my original plan of being alone.

"Did you here the latest news about Sophie Foster?" I slowed my walk when I heard two other Talentless elves talking to each other. Sophie Foster? That little brat with all the abilities? Her whole existence was unnatural and unfair. She had done nothing but cause trouble since she arrived, and it only further showed the short-comings of the Council for letting her get away with it.

"No, what happened?"

"Apparently she went to the Forbidden Cities to see her family, you know, her _human_ family." He snickered. "All she found was her sister. Her parents had been taken."

"By who?"

He lowered his voice, but by that time I was conveniently hiding behind a crate full of boxmelon fruit. " _The_ _Neverseen_." They both shuddered and I continued on.

So, little Sophie Foster's parents were taken by the Neverseen? Serves her right. Like I said, she's just trouble. The people around her have only ended up getting hurt and dragged in to things. I don't know what or her _creators_ are thinking, but they're certainly not doing any good.

I arrived at the large apartment complex where I lived. It was certainly roomy, but our nice houses were just a facade. I opened the unlocked door and and went inside. When I turned on the light, I almost didn't notice the small, crumpled up piece of paper on the floor. I eyed it with suspicion. I didn't remember dropping anything. And, now that I thought about it, I could have swore I had locked the door before leaving.

I picked up the paper and unfolded it. My hands started shaking as I realized there was writing on it.

"They have done many wrongs to you. Come join us and see dreams come true. Leave a note and burn this letter in the gleam. Sincerely the infamous Neverseen."

I hugged the note to my chest. They're rhyming could be better, but I got the message; they were trying to recruit me. But how to answer? I didn't know what to make of the Neverseen, exactly. They had good goals. The Black Swan wanted to "improve" the Council, which was impossible. The Neverseen wanted them gone, and I could support that all the way. New leaders needed to be in charge, ones with better ideals and more open-mindness. But then, I was sure about them threatening the gnomes. The gnomes were innocent, really just more victims of the Council. But maybe it just went to show how serious the Neverseen were about making reforms...

It was at that moment I knew what I was going to do. I threw their note in the fire and wrote a hasty answer on a random piece of paper. I debated on where to leave it, and finally decided on just dropping it on the floor in front of my door, as creepy as them coming in my house was.

Before I made my way upstairs for bed, I pulled open the curtains on the window slightly and looked outside. I could have sworn I saw a black cloaked figure on the other side of the street. But when I blinked, it was gone.

 **And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it! If I'm a new writer for you, please check out my other stories. Have a great day everyone! -BW**


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